The scene consists of cars and vintage style of every stripe. The Goodwood Revival in England is like nothing I have ever seen. I’ve been to vintage clothing centric events and I’ve been to amazing car gatherings, but this blows everything I have seen out of the water. Earlier this year I went to The Quail in Carmel, California and to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and neither give off the nice vibes that Goodwood does. I’ve frankly never been to anything in America that is like this event. If you are someone who likes vintage style, beautiful rare autos and the spectacular surroundings of Chichester, England, then mark this on your list.

It’s not really an everyday thing for me to be spending time in the 4×4 forums looking for insane custom Jeep setups, but the other day this gent on Twitter passed me a link (hat tip) to a custom Paul Jensen Jeep which plunged deep into the crazy world of awesome off-road rigs. While I am much more into owning a custom Sprinter van (countless hours have been spent dreaming about one of those bad boys), these XV Jeeps need to be appreciated for the sheer craziness of it all — not to mention the craftsmanship on display from Paul Jensen. The idea of having a truck customized has to be something high on the list for all red-blooded males. Taking something basic and building in so much personalization and utility into a one-of-one truck needs to be commended here.

After watching motorsports of just about every species, I’ve ultimately evolved to appreciate one race more than the others: Le Mans. The 24 hours requires incredible endurance, driver skill and unparalleled reliability. It is unlike any other event in the world and is, in my opinion, the best racing in the world. One other wonderful aspect of the race is the fact that Le Mans has been followed very closely over the years and a lot great footage exists, much of which is on YouTube. I thought posting some of this footage is especially timely with the recent passing of American motorsports legend Carroll Shelby (more on that shortly) and with the race coming up in a little more than a month from now.

And if you haven’t seen Audi’s stunning 2009 documentary Truth in 24, you need to get on that. Audi also just announced Truth in 24 II which centers on the German automaker’s 2011 victory. With subject matter like Le Mans, there’s no way that this new doc will be anything but great.

There can’t be many better ways to spend a Saturday than to drive out to the valley and visit with Jonathan Ward, founder of ICON. I’ve been threatening to come and visit for some time, but hadn’t stepped up to make the trip until last week. The shop and showroom aren’t open on Saturday, but Jonathan didn’t mind coming by and showing me around on his day off.

LA-based Icon is one of those companies that I try to avoid. I mean this in the best possible way. I avoid it all because I want one of those fucking trucks really bad. I actually think it has transcended want, I need one of those things. The truth of the matter is, it ain’t happenin anytime soon. Unless I win the pick six next time I am at the track (Luck, anyone?), an Icon truck is sadly far away on the horizon.

Being aesthetically awesome (and retro), but still functioning well enough to be a daily driver is the whole point of the company. The guys over at eGarage caught up with Icon founder Jonathan Ward about the mission of the company and a little program that it is launching called Derelicts. Want to know more? Watch the film. Want an Icon? Get in line. [ICON]

If I was on a naming committee at Cadillac I’d suggest adding the word “merging” to the moniker for the Detroit car maker’s high performance CTS-V sport wagon. You know, CTS-V Wagon Merging Edition; because all you want to do when you drive it is get on the highway and merge. Another possible name could be the CTS-V Wagon Darth Vader Edition.

Love the stealth inspired styling or hate it, you can’t help but to have near-blackout inducing amounts of fun driving one of these machines.

The 2012 CTS-V Wagon has a modest 6.2L supercharged V8 power plant. Wonderfully, Cadillac even offers it with a manual six speed transmission for about as much torque as I have ever experienced in a car. Just talking numbers, it has 556 horsepower and performance stats (0-60 in 4 seconds) that rival that of a BMW M5 (and for thousands of dollars less). Like I said earlier, like the angular styling or not, you can’t help but to want to drive this car — at least for a weekend.

The Yakima Ridge Runners off-road club was not afraid to have a good time driving-hard through the rugged lands of Washington State.

Filmed in the late 1940s or 1950s, these two amazing videos feature all kinds of fun with Willys CJs over all types of terrain. The films represent a look into life of another time — a free spirited American adventure. The old school clothing (which includes gratuitous amounts of khaki and wool plaid jackets), camping and of course off-roading is all incredible to see. In between the log jumping, river crossing and winching I noticed a few signs from Snoqualmie National Forest. Probably safe to say that the current stewards of our National Parks would frown upon this type of activity today.